The major focus of this study will be to document the nature of Late Holocene climate variability along the Tibbit to Contwoyto Winter Road (TCWR). With the proposed research we will provide high-resolution information on climate variability and its affects on aquatic and terrestrial environments in the central Northwest Territories. This information may be used by stakeholders (e.g., industry, government, non-government organizations, and First Nations groups) to strategically manage northern ecosystems and to inform policy makers and planners of potential climatic conditions that may dominate in the coming decades. The research will involve a detailed analysis of high-resolution climate records archived in sediments along a climatological gradient from latitudinally distinct lakes along the TCWR from near Yellowknife, NWT at the southern end (~62.5°N) to the open tundra area north of Lac de Gras Rest Camp ~64.5°N.  In addition there will be a complementary analysis of dendrochronological records along the 175 km route of the TCWR within the treeline. We plan to achieve our goal of better understanding the Impact of Climate Change on Forests and Freshwater Ecosystems in the region by applying a high-resolution, integrated, and multi-disciplinary approach employing a diverse range of micropaleontological – biogeochemical – sedimentological and chronological approaches to document changes in limnological/ climatic conditions in the central NWT and southern NU through the late Holocene (ca. last 3,500 years)

This research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).